


Dusted

by provencepuss



Series: Busted Dusted Rusted [2]
Category: Starsky & Hutch
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-30
Updated: 2013-06-30
Packaged: 2017-12-16 16:11:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/863986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/provencepuss/pseuds/provencepuss





	Dusted

 

** Dusted  **

** ( a duet for two cops)  **

 

_Nothing's impossible, I have found._

_For when my chin is on the ground,_

_I pick myself up, dust myself off,_

_Start all over again.*_

 

“I didn’t think I’d see _you_ back here, Lieutenant.”

“It’s Sergeant these days, Detective Sergeant.”

“Kind of hard to know what to call you, then.” 

“Dave was good enough last time around.”

“Good to see you Dave; well ….”

“I understand.”

 

*****************

 

_Don't lose your confidence if you slip._

_Be grateful for a pleasant trip,_

_And pick yourself up; dust yourself off;_

_Start all over again._

 

Hutch had no choice. Dobey tried his best but no-one could take working with him for more than a couple of days. Younger cops were scared of him and older cops felt uncomfortable taking Starsky’s place, however temporary they all believed it to be. Dobey ended up putting him behind a desk and Hutch accepted that he might just as well sign up for a few classes at the Academy to prepare the exams. No matter how hard he tried, if a call came in for a car found abandoned, no matter what the description, he had to go and see for himself that it wasn’t Starsky’s.

He learned one thing: fingerprint dust sticks to everything. And each black stain on his pants or his shirt just told him how futile it was to try to find a man who did not want to be found; especially when that man was a street-wise and highly-skilled cop.

 

Hutch studied and registered for the exams. He had been a cop long enough for his experience to have taught him much of what he needed to show the examining board. The studies added the necessary references to codes and laws that maybe he and Starsky were a little too glib about in the old days.

 

He decided to make the best of it. He enjoyed the mental challenge of studying again and the investigative set-backs faded into insignificance. He started to tell himself that if he fulfilled Starsky’s trust it would bring him back.

 

************************  

 

_Work like a soul inspired_

_' Til the battle of the day is won. _

_You may be sick and tired,_

_But you'll be a man, my son._

 

The routine was tough but it was what Starsky needed. He slipped back into the discipline of the rehab center that had put him back on his feet ten years earlier. Waking at dawn; running the regulation two miles before breakfast, pushing weights and his limits made it easier to ignore the temptation to turn to easy comfort.  When he wasn’t pushing his body he pushed his brain.  It was good to use his quick mind again. It was too easy to let Hutch believe his crack about who was “the brains” and who was the “not-inconsiderable brawn” of the partnership.

He had set-backs when his body protested the regime with pain and a bone-deep weariness. Those were the days when he spent more time reading the textbooks and running over the test papers that a contact in the Hawaii PD sent him. Sometimes he stared at the page and wondered whether Hutch was keeping his side of the deal. He shook his head in disbelief that he could even doubt it.

The son was going further than the father ever did.

 

*********************** 

 

Nearly a year after Starsky disappeared Hutch sat in an examination hall with thirty other candidates for the rank of Lieutenant.

 

A week later he found a note on his desk, “come to my office when you arrive, Hutch” signed by Dobey.  He opened the Captain’s door and walked in. Dobey didn’t look and Hutch’s heart skipped beat. The moment he had dreaded for the past few months had finally come…Dobey closed the file:

“You’d better take this one, Hutch.  They’ve found a car that fits the description up near Malibu.”

 

*********************** 

 

 

Starsky didn’t _need_ to be here any more.  He wanted to stay. He didn’t need permission to leave; he had come as a volunteer after all, and he had achieved all the goals that he set himself.  He had enough money to take his time and he spent his days photographing volcanoes and bright-plumed birds and waves and ripples in the sand on the beach near the apartment that he used as a base. He hardly noticed the time pass.

May came, bringing the painful memories of his brief encounter with his own mortality. In June he made his decision. He booked a flight to New York and braced himself for his mother’s loving nagging.

And when he was sure that he could finally make the last move he booked another ticket. One-way.

 

 

********************* 

 

 

Hutch checked his reflection in the mirror. The department was on parade for a new Commissioner and he was in full dress uniform

 

He noted the new Lieutenant’s uniform hanging on the locker door and whistled at the impressive rows of medal ribbons. He hadn’t heard of a new officer coming in; but truth was he’d been pretty absent since May when the memories of the shooting a year earlier had sent him to the bottom of a bottle until Huggy and Dobey pulled him up again.

 

Hutch put the words to the tune that someone was whistling in the locker room shower. It was one of those songs you carry from your childhood that worms its way into your brain and refuses to leave.  He hated it and loved it at the same time. It occurred to him that the whistler was the mystery Lieutenant.

 

The shower stopped and Hutch turned away instinctively, not wanting the newcomer to think he was watching him as he stepped out of the shower. He made his way up to the hall where his colleagues were already assembled to greet the new boss.

Hutch took his place alongside Captain Dobey and Chief Ryan and noticed an empty chair next to him. He figured it was for the new Lieutenant. The door opened and the new Commissioner walked in. As the assembled officers stood to attention Hutch sensed that someone had slipped into the back of the room.

As they left the room Dobey put a hand on Hutch’s arm. “Come with me. I want you to meet you new partner.”

Hutch was ready to bluster that he didn’t need a new partner because….then he saw Lieutenant David Starsky standing grinning at him.

“Glad to see I was right to trust you, Lieutenant.”

“It was you whistling in the shower?”

“Yeah.  I always loved that song.” He started to sing softly

 

_Will you remember the famous men _

_Who had to fall to rise again. _

_So take a deep breath;_

_Pick yourself up;_

_Dust yourself off_

 

Starsky sketched a teasing salute. “I did like the song said, buddy. I guess now we are both ready to start all over again.”

Hutch nodded.

Dobey breathed a sigh of relief; suddenly the idea of retirement didn’t seem so bad, not if he could be sure of two excellent candidates for Captain coming up behind.

 

 

 

* Pick yourself up and dust yourself off. Lyrics by Dorothy Fields to music by Jerome Kern

 

 


End file.
